PrizePicks Stacks Its Chips for the Future, Closes Round of Strategic Investors
PrizePicks, the largest independently owned daily fantasy sports platform with the widest breadth of sports coverage of any DFS operator, today announced the close of a strategic round of equity funding by a group of investors highlighted by some of the most prominent names in the world of high-stakes poker.
The founding team from Poker Central and PokerGo are the latest poker luminaries to recognize the synergy between poker and DFS. They join a list of PrizePicks investors that includes Hall of Famers Phil Hellmuth and Jack McLelland, popular professional player and streamer Jeff Gross, and Brian Balsbaugh, founder of Poker Royalty, the first management agency for poker players.
“Poker professionals are all-in on premium unit economics when they see them,” PrizePicks CEO Adam Wexler said. “We’re positioned strategically for 2021 and beyond, and that’s in large part due to how we’ve chosen to align with a savvy and diverse set of equity investors rather than a strict venture financing path due to our sound, profitable business model.”
“This gives us a lot of flexibility for the future should we choose to expand our brand beyond DFS as FanDuel and DraftKings have,” Wexler said. “The alignment with the poker industry and these stellar investors will benefit both sides in both the short term and the long term should we move into areas such as sports betting and icasino.”
The funds will be used, among other things, to increase staffing and grow the executive team, and for platform innovation, which will include several patents. PrizePicks, the third-largest daily fantasy sports platform in terms of monthly revenue — PrizePicks’ average revenue per customer each month is close to $100 — closed 2020 with five consecutive record-setting months in terms of traffic, engagement, and revenue despite the ongoing challenges COVID-19 caused to the professional sports and live entertainment industries.
Joining the poker coalition in this latest round of financing is a mix of individuals such as former NBA champion Andrew Bogut, previous investors such as Phoenix Capital Ventures and Parlay Capital Holdings, and a venture firm affiliated with Magic City Casino, a major south Florida casino operator that announced a partnership with PrizePicks earlier this year around its Magic City Jai Alai offering.
“While sports fans are overly focused on the public companies in this category, it’s the emerging organizations who are creatively innovating to best position themselves to win over time,” said Bogut, the first pick in the 2005 NBA draft and a world champion with the Golden State Warriors in 2015. “It reminds me of how we built it in Golden State — smart, strategic moves to build a highly complementary group who could reinvent the way championships are achieved.”
About PrizePicks
PrizePicks is the largest independently owned DFS platform in North America. Centered around real-money over/under predictions, PrizePicks allows sports fans to play against the numbers rather than each other and it is the simplest variety of daily fantasy sports with the widest breadth of sports coverage of any DFS operator. Boasting partnerships in 2020 with the Atlanta Braves and Miami Marlins, among others, PrizePicks is currently the closest legal alternative to legal mobile sports betting in the majority of the United States including Top 10 markets like California, Texas, Florida, and Georgia. With an existing digital footprint covering more than 60 percent of the U.S. population, PrizePicks is the most accessible type of game for the masses. The company is headquartered in Atlanta, and PrizePicks is the third product from Performance Predictions, a suite of fan engagement solutions including SidePrize, the 2016 Fantasy Sports and Gaming Association’s “Rookie of the Year” award recipient. PrizePicks is available in the App Store and Google Play or at prizepicks.com.
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